A conversation with Rabbi Sacks for CBC Radio’s Tapestry

In this feature interview for Tapestry with Mary Hynes, CBC Radio’s (Canada) weekly programme about spirituality and the search for meaning, Rabbi Sacks traces the idea of religious tolerance and free speech through many philosophers from various faiths who have advocated for it throughout the centuries: starting with Muslim philosopher Averroes in the 12th-century, Jewish Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the 16th-century, Christian John Milton in the 17th-century, through to secular humanist John Stuart Mill in the 19th-century.

Rabbi Sacks says if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it.

“Let us not act as if what’s happening in the 21st century has no precedent… The great use of history is that we can see what happened: we can see what led to the conflict, we can see what the conflict cost in terms of human lives, and we can see what ended the conflict.”

“You are children of the Lord your God Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession” (Deut 14:1-2)
These words have had a considerable history within Judaism The first inspired the famous statement of Rabbi Akiva:... Read more

Writing

In his final message before stepping down after more than two decades in office, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks recounts his personal journey of discovery and faith Through a compelling analysis of recent Jewish history, ‘A Judaism Engaged with the World’ warns that a Judaism divorced from society will be a Judaism unable to influence society or inspire young Jews Calling Judaism “the... Read more